Do you believe in the paranormal? Swing and a miss? Well, what about magic? Not sold? Well, neither is Lynn. Award-winning Lynn Schmeidler reveals just how she created her illusions in her short story collection, Half-Lives. (Here's a hint: they're not so fabricated.)

I speak with Elisa Carlsen about Cormorant, her poetry collection. By the way, a cormorant is a type of bird. This ain’t your normal “if only I could fly” collection, but a gritty tale about validation, corruption, and murder. How much am I exaggerating? You will have to listen to find out!

I speak with Elisa Carlsen about Cormorant, her poetry collection. By the way, a cormorant is a type of bird. This ain’t your normal “if only I could fly” collection, but a gritty tale about validation, corruption, and murder. How much am I exaggerating? You will have to listen to find out!

War, war never changes, except all the time. The nature of a man, however, is far more predictable—and yet elusive. Chidi Ebere pins down the nature of a man, of a certain type, in his novel, Now I Am Here. While his work may deal with the ordinary, it incorporates his extraordinary life at every opportunity. I'd spoil it here, but that's against the rules.

War, war never changes, except all the time. The nature of a man, however, is far more predictable—and yet elusive. Chidi Ebere pins down the nature of a man, of a certain type, in his novel, Now I Am Here. While his work may deal with the ordinary, it incorporates his extraordinary life at every opportunity. I'd spoil it here, but that's against the rules.